Somerset

Local business attraction and expansion through mentorship, grants, and incubator opportunities like the soco farmers market, the attraction of visitors and residents through festivals and events uptown, the renovation of historic assets and properties, the provision of support for housing renovation and historic renovations, the addition of artistic and community design components such as murals, sculptures, and decorations uptown, and the coordination of community member and community group connections. The largest program expenses were tourism marketing. We received a 25,000 grant from the laurel highlands visitors bureau and nearly matched the funds with donated investments to try to promote uptown Somerset as the gateway to soco (Somerset county) these marketing efforts, designed by a team of volunteers from all over the county, brought visitor inquiries, foot traffic, and local investment via visitors to small local businesses and events. This is also a top-funnel strategy to entice visitors to Somerset county and in the long-term convert some visitors to residents, which is a need in our community and county due to population decline. The second largest program expense was fire & ice festival, which brings in thousands of visitors to the Somerset community who stay in local hotels, invest in local businesses who are located uptown, invest in the marketplace incubator which is filled with smaller businesses for the weekend, and promote the community via social media posts, the attraction of media, and more. The third largest program expense was the facade grant expense which was a dced grant reimbursement program to incentivize the renovation of uptown building facades. This number represents 5 building facade renovations.